AC Repair in Holly Springs, MS
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Marshall County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Mississippi heat, five months of hard running
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, and on the afternoons that hit 90°F it runs long stretches just to hold the house steady. That kind of steady demand wears on the compressor and the run capacitor that helps start it. A weak capacitor makes the outdoor unit hum and struggle to start, or shut off on its own before the house cools.
Marshall County has also seen 29 damaging wind events and 14 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 4 inches. Wind can rock the outdoor unit and stress its refrigerant lines and electrical connections. Hail that size can dent the thin fins on the outdoor coil, and bent fins block the airflow the unit needs to cool the refrigerant. You may notice the system running longer than it used to, or blowing air that is not as cold as it should be.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 14 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 29 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical Marshall County home.
Estimates for a typical Marshall County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Mississippi fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when a part like a capacitor or contactor has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the compressor has failed or the system uses R-22 refrigerant, which is no longer made.
Mississippi requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Mississippi issues this license through the State Board of Contractors, and it covers the contractor, not the job itself. The same license applies whether the repair is small or large, because it is the person doing the work who is licensed, not each visit they make.
On an air conditioner repair, the refrigerant side of the system is almost always part of the job. Federal law requires anyone who opens that side of the system to hold EPA Section 608 certification, in Mississippi and every other state. So the contractor's state license is what the Board of Contractors stands behind, and the technician handling the refrigerant lines also has to carry that federal certification.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil. When that happens the coil can freeze up and you get weak air that's barely cool, or no cold air at all. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and that takes a licensed technician to find and fix since it means opening the refrigerant side of the system. If the filter looks clean, it's worth having someone check the refrigerant level next.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this is a clogged condensate drain line. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air all summer, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and sludge build up in that line over a season of heavy use and block it, so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen coil can cause the same thing when it thaws, so if the filter is dirty or the coil looks frosted, that is likely part of the problem too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool and the temperature is actually below the room temperature, and if it runs on batteries, try fresh ones. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker for the outdoor unit, since a tripped breaker will stop the whole system cold. When neither of those is the issue, the problem is likely in the unit itself, a bad capacitor or a failed contactor are common causes, and that's a job for a licensed contractor to diagnose.